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Bank stocks slid last year amid concern that new regulations, stagnating economic growth and Europe’s sovereign- debt crisis would prolong an earnings slump. Jefferies’s offer, rare among rivals, gives workers a way to lock in payments amid that uncertainty, said Joseph Sorrentino, a managing director at Steven Hall & Partners, a compensation-consulting firm.

“It’s a cloudy future — they’re not really sure which way it’s going to go or how long before profits recover,” Sorrentino said of the mood among Wall Street professionals. “What they’re saying is, ‘I’ll take that guarantee at a 25 percent discount.’”